Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers

Honest. Quirky. Real. Practical tips, candid reviews, and stereotype-smashing humor for homeschooling families.

Honest. Quirky. Real. Practical tips, candid reviews, and stereotype-smashing humor for homeschooling families.

How to Ignite Your Child’s Passion for Reading

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I’m a bookworm. I have loved to read as long as I can remember. Once, our school did a read-a-thon to raise money for a charity. My step-dad pledged $1/book (that was a lot of money back in the day) because he didn’t think I’d read that many books. It seems like the goal was 20 books per reader, and, of course, I read them all!

My step-dad later told me that he knew I’d do it. He just wanted to add a sense of challenge for me. That’s probably true.

ignite a passion for reading

I was the kid who always won an award for reading tons of books over the summer. I would lie on my bed, with my pet parakeet perched on the book nibbling the pages, and read for hours.

Of course, I didn’t have the television, video games, and the internet competing for my attention. Back in those days, there were only three channels (five if you could get the public broadcast channels to come in), and they were all showing soap operas all day long. (Confession: I was hooked on General Hospital during the Luke, Laura, and Scorpio years.)

So, how do you ignite a child’s passion for reading these days with so many electronic devices vying for their attention? My kids aren’t die-hard bookworms like I was (Seriously, you’d think I’d have at least one.), but they do enjoy reading. Even the dyslexic ones. It’s worth noting that it’s wrong to think that people with dyslexia don’t enjoy reading. They do; it’s just a slower, more challenging process for them.

Share Your Love of Reading

The most basic step in raising kids who love to read is to share your love of reading with them. I read to my babies before they were born. Yes, I was that mom who would read to her pregnant belly.

I’d lie in bed reading board books to the kids when they were infants. I introduced them to my favorite children’s books when they got a bit older. We went to Story Time at the library, and they chose their own books to bring home each week. (And usually to a fast-food place with a playground with friends afterward, so Story Time was always a highly anticipated event.)

ignite a passion for reading

Read bedtime stories to your kids. (Even when they’re older.) Let them see you read. Join kid-friendly book clubs or start a family book club. Have 20-30 minutes of silent reading time each day during which you all read (or look at picture books or wordless books) on your own. Yes, this means you, Mom.

Introduce Your Kids to a Variety of Genres

I have three kids, and they all have vastly different preferences when it comes to reading genre. My boy has always preferred non-fiction books. Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel was one of the few picture books he’d sit still for as a kid. He always preferred fact-based books about trucks, cars, and military stuff.

One of my girls has loved Shakespeare since she was 15. She also devours manga and fantasy novels. The other girl likes stories and biographies. The Diary of a Wimpy Kid series was what first got her hooked on reading.

Introduce your kids to a variety of genres so they can discover their favorites. A friend of mine used to have her kids choose at least one biography, one non-fiction, one fiction, and one book of poetry each time they visited the library. Those are some well-read young adults who were avid readers throughout their teen years.

Give Your Kids a Firm Foundation

Teaching a child to read is probably the single-most important skill you can give them. If a kid can read, he can learn about anything. One of the most critical aspects of teaching reading is keeping it fun. After you’ve shared your love of reading with your kids, you don’t want to ruin it by turning the activity into drudgery for them.

One resource that I keep hearing about over and over in the homeschooling community is Reading Eggs. Reading Eggs is web-based reading instruction designed for kids ages 2-13 that I wish had been around when my kids were learning to read.

It features games, songs, and rewards that have been carefully designed to engage kids and keep them motivated. Kids can access Reading Eggs on the web or a mobile device using the iOS or Android app. It’s perfect for today’s tech-savvy, screen-loving kids. I mean, seriously, my 4-year-old niece can navigate a tablet better than I can.

The Junior level uses games, songs, and videos to teach 2-4-year-olds pre-reading skills. Reading Eggs teaches 4-7-year-olds phonics, sight words, spelling, vocabulary, and reading comprehension. Kids ages 7-13 can build on those skills with comprehension lessons, games, and an online library using Reading Eggspress.

Reading Eggs offers several affordable subscription levels, but from now until February 11, 2018, you can try it for free for 4 weeks. Just click through the link and sign up to get started!

What has worked well for you for inspiring a love of reading in your kids?

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Free Patriotic Adding and Subtracting Mats

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Written by Rachel of You’ve Got This.

Two of the most important foundational math skills are being able to add and subtract quickly. Three of the skills parents and teachers of young students may choose to focus on are:

  1. Being able to add and subtract within 5 fluently
  2. Knowing all the fact families that equal 10
  3. Adding and subtracting with objects

These festive patriotic adding and subtracting mats will help your young child practice those skills.

Patriotic Adding and Subtracting Mats Prep Work

I love activities that require minimal prep work, and the Patriotic Adding and Subtracting Mats are such an activity! All you have to do is:

How to Use Patriotic Adding and Subtracting Mats

To begin, place the mat on the table in front of your student. You’ll use the mat for both the subtraction and addition activities. Next, give your child all of the addition picture cards, and have him count the objects.

The child will place the card on the number that picture represents.

After placing all the picture cards on, it is time to move onto numerical expressions. Have your little one find the expressions that match the pictures. For example, the expression 5 + 4 would need a picture that has five of one object (watermelons) and four of another (corn).

Afterward, you can go back through each square and see if they can remember what each expression equals. You might say, “Do you remember what 5 +  4 equals?”

Once your child answers, lift off the equation and have them count the pictures so they can see if they are correct. Then lift all the pictures and say, “Yes, 5 + 4 equals 9.”

Subtraction Time

Once your child can quickly assemble the addition mats, it is time to move on to subtraction. This math requires the same steps as the addition mats, but once children are successfully able to add the pictures first, you can switch things around a bit.

Instead of adding the pictures first, see if your child can put the expressions on first, and then the pictures that match. This begins moving them from just counting to figure out an expression to working from memory.

And being able to add and subtract fluently is a goal worth pursuing!

Have older students? Try out these Patriotic Math Word Problems.

>> Download the Free Patriotic Adding and Subtracting Mats.

FREE Interactive Geometry Vocabulary Book

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Written by Rachel of You’ve Got This.

Vocabulary. We often think it applies to social studies and science, but some math units have a boatload of vocabulary. If kids don’t quite grasp this vocabulary, they won’t be successful. That’s where hands-on activities like this geometry vocabulary book come in handy.

FREE Interactive Geometry Vocabulary Book

My oldest has just reached his geometry unit and is encountering words that he has never heard. Seriously, perpendicular lines isn’t a word I often use when talking to my children.

To encourage success in this unit, I created two activities to help him learn and understand geometry vocabulary words such as line, ray, line segments, parallel lines, and perpendicular lines. We are starting with a fun, interactive dictionary and then moving onto a geometry bingo activity.

Setting Up the Interactive Geometry Vocabulary Book

This activity has two options with different level of prep-work.

Option #1: Very Little Prep Work (the kiddos do all the work)

  1. Print off the free geometry vocabulary interactive book.
  2. Provide scissors and a stapler for your child or students
  3. During math time, have them cut out the book and staple it together.
  4. Have them cut out the pictures and vocabulary words.

Option #2: More Prep Work For the Parent

  1. Print off the book
  2. Cut out the cover and pages and staple them together
  3. Either cut out the pictures and vocabulary words or let the children do that depending on the amount of time you want to spend.

How to Use the Geometry Vocabulary Activity

We did this interactive geometry vocabulary book before we did anything else, so my little guy had absolutely no clue what the words meant. We started by looking up the words in the interactive dictionary. We would read the definition, play with the lines, and then move back to the book.

Once he knew the definition, we would take the vocabulary word and find the definition in his book. Then, he glued the word in the word in the blanks.

Geometry Activities for Kids

Next, he would find the picture that matched the vocabulary word and definition and glue it in its spot.

Geometry Activities for Kids

Finally, he used a ruler to draw his own version.

Geometry Activities for Kids

Not only did he have fun learning the words, but now he has a great resource that will help as we play our bingo game and complete the assignments from his math book.

We hope you enjoy it as much as we did.

What’s your favorite way to introduce new vocabulary to your children?

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Hands-on Division Practice with Free Sorting Activity

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Written by Rachel of You’ve Got This.

Singing! Skip-Counting! Games! We’ve been doing it all year, and now it is time to put it into practice. We are jumping into a short multiplication review, and then a long, focused study on division.

All that prep work to make sure my little guy knows his facts has all been in preparation for this unit. And I can’t wait to get started with some fun activities.

This free pirate sort is just one of the many fun activities we will be doing!

Prep-Work

  • Print the hands-on division activity on card stock paper (You can laminate them for extra durability.)
  • Cut out pirate mats, coins, and problems
  • Sort into division problems that have remainders and those that don’t

Hands-On Divison Practice (Problems without Remainders)

Day One:

Beginning a math lesson with a book is an excellent way to engage your children and get them ready to do a little math. Before you begin the division lesson, I highly suggest starting with the book The Doorbell Rang. It is a short, fun book that has children sharing cookies with their friends. It is a perfect way to get your kiddos excited about sharing gold coins with pirates.

After reading, pull out the pirate mats, cut out coins, and some of the problems. Begin by showing your young ones a division problem, and talking about its parts.

For example, you may say:

  • This number is the dividend. It is the number being divided up. It tells us how many gold coins we need to gather to complete the problem.
  • This number is the divisor. It tells us how many equal groups we are going to put the coins into. When we look at this number, we will know how many pirate mats we need to get out.

Now comes the fun part, the hands-on division practice! Give your children the mats, coins, and problems and let them give it a try. Encourage them to use the vocabulary as they sort.

Day Two:

On day two it is time to introduce remainders. Grab the book “A Remainder of One” and read this delightful story with your little ones. As you read, see if they can figure out the dividend and the divisor. And of course, begin introducing the word remainder.

Now jump into the problems with remainders. Each time your kids figure out how many do not fit into equal groups have them tell you that they have a remainder of ____!

After day two, it is time to expand on division and give them some more opportunities to explore. You could try these fun division problems, or teach them how to model division with arrays. The options are endless.

Enjoy this time of exploring and expanding your child’s thinking!

Download your free hands-on division activity printable. 

What are some of your favorite ways to help your children learn and practice new concepts?

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4 Fun Car and Travel Games

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Written by Susan Williams of Education Possible.

Whether it is time for a family road trip or just a full day of running errands around town, spending a lot of time in the car can be challenging for kids (and parents) of all ages. Over the years we have discovered several easy games to help keep everyone entertained while on the road. And the best part of these games – no batteries required!

fun-car-and-travel-games-2

Here are 4 fun car and travel games that we hope will make your next trip a little more enjoyable:

The Alphabet Game

This is one of the easiest games ever and every time you play your answers will be unique to your surroundings.

To play: Each player looks for letters of the alphabet on signs, license plates, bumper stickers, etc.

Variations:

  • Have players find items that start with each letter of the alphabet.
  • Players may have to find letters in alphabetical order.
  • Maybe players are limited to just signs or just license plates to find letters.
  • You can also print this handy Alphabet Game printable to keep track of letters found.

Group Storytelling

You can get some silly stories going when everyone helps to create a story together.

To play: Someone begins by telling the first line of the story. The opening line could be something familiar like, “Once upon a time there was a beautiful princess who lived in a castle” or start with something crazy like “The other day two aliens landed at the mall and wanted to go shopping.”

Everyone takes turns adding just one line to the story. You never know what creative twists and turns your stories can take or how long they will be.

Variations:

  • The person starting the story could establish a theme for the story – action, fantasy, current events, etc.
  • Try creating a poem by requiring the last word of each sentence to rhyme.
fun car games

Mad Libs

This classic game is fun and clever because kids don’t realize they are brushing up on their language arts lessons while making up funny stories, describing historical sights, and more.

To play: The easiest way to play is to buy a couple of Mad Libs books and bring along a pencil to fill in the answers with different parts of speech. Some of our favorites are Mad Libs on the Road, Vacation Mad Libs, and Happily Ever After Mad Libs, but there are dozens of Mad Libs books to choose from.

Variations: Sometimes my kids like to create their own Mad Libs.  Just write down a basic story and leave out a word or two in each sentence.

Teen Road Trip Scavenger Hunt

Sometimes you need a creative way to get your teens to unplug while they are in the car.  That’s why my friend Megan created this fun Road Trip Scavenger Hunt with 50 things to search for that will challenge your middle school students.

To play: Download a free copy of the scavenger hunt for your teens, bring along a pencil, and see who can find the most items during your next car trip.

Variations:

  • Set a time limit for the hunt.
  • Make everyone find the items in order.

We hope these fun and easy games will make your next family car trip entertaining and memorable!

What are some of your family’s favorite car and travel games?

This post is linked to the Hip Homeschool Hop.